Carolina Castiglioni launched Plan C men’s alongside women’s at this year’s Pitti Uomo. The artsy installation was conceived with longtime collaborator Duccio Maria Gambi, a designer and sculptor who has worked with Castiglioni on the set-up of the label’s stores in Tokyo. Japan is a big market for Plan C, as the country’s edgy aesthetic resonates with the streamlined codes Castiglioni has infused into her brainchild. “In Japan, men have been buying from our women’s collection, so I thought it was time to give them proper attention and a dedicated offer,” she said.
Castiglioni’s personal style has been the template around which she has built Plan C from day one; being partial to a certain boyishness and to sophisticated workwear, it was rather easy to pick references from the label’s archive that will suit a guy’s wardrobe also. Uniforms and functionality remained favorite key elements; tailoring with a relaxed edge, as well as the generous volumes of sporty outerwear were proposed for both genders.
Indulging her affinity for artistic expression, the designer worked on a range of boxy tops and tunics in white canvas, one of the collection’s standouts. On their fronts, she reproduced a series of paintings made from photographs she took of her daughter Margherita, whose childish self-portrait scribbled at school serves as the label’s logo. As the saying goes, the apple never falls far from the tree.